Coping strategies of African mothers of children diagnosed with behavioral problems.

Abstract:

This study aims at finding out whether Black Northern Sotho speaking mothers of children
diagnosed with behavioural problems cope differently from their English speaking
counterparts, and whether the Black mothers have more support than their control group.
Forty-eight Northern Sotho speaking Black African mothers with children diagnosed with
behavioural problems were drawn using a convenience sample method. Thirty-two English
speaking White mothers who have the same type of children were used as the control group.
Participants were drawn from clinical populations in public hospitals in the Limpopo Province
(Mankweng, Polokwane, Groothoek, and Lebowakgomo hospitals). All participants were given
a questionnaire. The questionnaire had the following sections: bibliographical data of the
mother and family; Social Support Scale (Sarason, Levine, Basham, & Sarason, 1983); Ways
of Coping Scale (Billings & Moos, 1981) and an in-depth interviewing schedule.
Ten subjects from the forty-eight were interviewed using the in-depth-interviewing schedule.
The ten were selected by choosing every fifth numbered participant from the experimental
group until the tenth participant. Results show that White mothers (control group) of children
with behavioural problems coped better than the Black mothers (experimental group). Age of
the mothers and the mothers’ perception of the level of health significantly influenced scores
on the Coping Scale. As the mothers’ ages decreased, their scores on the Coping increased
(they coped better) and as the perceived level of health increased (more positive), the Coping
score increased. However, Black mothers have more support than their control group. The
perceived level of health was the only factor that significantly influenced the scores on the
Social Support scale. As the perceived level of health decreased, the Social Support received
increased.
It is also found that the Black mothers’ use of external locus of control in their explanations
of the causes of their children’s problems led to a number of feelings in the mothers. Feelings
for example, of not being in control of the situation, feelings of dissatisfaction with family
life, decreased motivation together with feelings of guilt and self-blame.
It appears a process of acculturation could be involved in the difficulties the Black mothers
experience. This acculturation process and the effect of the problematic child on their system
(school, family, and parents) need to be addressed further so they could be incorporated into
future intervention programmes.
Due to the limitations of the study, the findings should be used with caution. Further research
should be done to shed more light on the coping strategies of mothers of children with
behavioural problems.